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When ABC’s Revenge made its TV debut in the fall of 2011, it quickly became one of my favorite weekly guilty pleasures. For the second season, the creators decided to amp things up a bit—but, as the old saying goes, sometimes it’s best just to keep it simple, stupid.
While the first season was a pretty straightforward story of high-society backstabbing and revenge, the show’s second season is much more tangled—with some seriously complicated storylines. As Emily (Emily VanCamp) continues her quest to get revenge on most of the Hamptons for her father’s disgrace and death, she’s often sidetracked by all kinds of other craziness. After breaking off her engagement to Daniel Grayson (Joshua Bowman)—the son of her nemesis, Victoria (Madeline Stowe)—in favor of charming, down-to-earth Jack (Nick Wechsler), Emily discovers that her old friend, Amanda (Margarita Levieva), has returned to the Hamptons carrying Jack’s child. Jack, meanwhile, is struggling with problems of his own, as he’s forced to reach out to some questionable business partners to keep his bar in business. And Emily soon learns that the conspiracy against her father went much, much deeper than just a greedy Grayson plot.
For a while, the show’s second season is just intense as the first—but in a different way. And while Emily seemed more like a heartless robot in the first season than a thinking, caring human being, her human side comes out more in the second season, allowing fans the chance to feel a little less guilty about loving her. In that way, she tends to make up for her partner in crime, Gabriel Mann’s Nolan—who, despite getting a plotline of his own, seems to do little more than spout off cheesy one-liners.
As the season plays out, though—and the responsibility for David Clarke’s demise shifts from the Graysons alone to a mysterious organization known as The Initiative—it becomes so complex and layered that it’s often confusing. Not only that, but it’s also less believable—and less fun, too. Back when the revenge plot was about Emily taking on the Graysons, the battle was more personal. When The Initiative’s involvement is revealed, it makes the whole thing feel colder and more distant. Throughout the season, there are so many layers built upon layers—and so many distractions thrown into the mix—that the story loses some of its dark, dishy appeal.
Fortunately, the season ends with Emily’s admission that she’s been too distracted lately—and a vow to get back to her original mission. And the season finale leaves so many fascinating questions that it’s impossible not to eagerly anticipate the premiere of the third season. So while the show’s second season may have hit a bit of a slump somewhere in the middle, the season finale may suggest that the show’s creators are well aware of the snags along the way—and they’re planning to fix the problems in season three.
DVD Review:
Pick up the five-disc DVD set of the second season of Revenge, and you’ll also get a handful of extras, including audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and the ubiquitous blooper reel.
Other special features include Schooled in Revenge, a short promo for a new Revenge spin-off book, and Haute Hamptons, which takes some time to explore the playful costumes worn by Ashley Madekwe’s character, Ashley Davenport.
The longest feature included in the set is The Sound of Revenge, which follows composer Izler as he goes through the weekly process of creating the show’s bold and dramatic score. Along the way, he visits the set, he shows some of the unusual instruments that he uses, and he spends a day conducting the live orchestra that brings his compositions to life. This feature may not give insight into the characters or their stories, and it doesn’t spend a lot of time going behind the scenes with the show’s stars, but it’s a fascinating feature nonetheless.
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